The western two-thirds of the state is covered mostly by the mountain ranges and rangelands of the
Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie called the
High Plains. Almost half of the land in Wyoming is owned by the
U.S. government, leading Wyoming to rank sixth by area and fifth by proportion of a state's land owned by the federal government. Federal lands include two national parks—
Grand Teton and
Yellowstone—two national recreation areas, two national monuments, several national forests, historic sites, fish hatcheries, and wildlife refuges.

Selected article

The Rock Springs massacre (also known as the Rock Springs riot) occurred on September 2, 1885 in the present-day
United States (U.S.) city of
Rock Springs, Wyoming, in
Sweetwater County. The riot, between Chinese immigrant miners and white, mostly immigrant, miners, was the result of racial tensions and an ongoing labor dispute over the
Union Pacific Coal Department's policy of paying Chinese miners lower wages than white miners. When the rioting ended, at least 28 Chinese miners were dead and 15 were wounded. Rioters burned 75 Chinese homes resulting in approximately
US$150,000 in property damage.